E-mails were breaking point for Jenny

Gov. Mark Sanford took a few minutes to comment on his wife's book, which will hit bookshelves on Friday, and the importance of local tourism efforts. This took place Feb. 2, 2010, at the S.C. Governor's Conference on Travel and Tourism.

Jenny Sanford told ABC News her marriage was over after reading racy e-mails between her husband, Gov. Mark Sanford, and his lover.

Never miss a local story.

The e-mails were published after Sanford admitted to carrying on a yearlong relationship with an Argentine woman.

Jenny Sanford tells ABC News, in an interview that will be broadcast Friday at 10 p.m., that the e-mails were a breaking point. Three of her sons read the e-mails, she said in the interview, conducted by Barbara Walters.

“He talks about her tan lines and parts of her body in the e-mails . . . nothing, nothing you ever want your children to read on the Web." Jenny Sanford said.

"Their world's been turned upside-down as well. It is something that is now a part of their lives. . . . They're not happy. They're not proud. . . . It just ripped me up, to see them reading these e-mails, and to see them have to grow up so fast."

The Sanfords attempted to reconcile after Mark Sanford admitted to an affair, which came after the governor told his staff he was leaving to hike the Appalachian Trail when he was actually visiting his lover in Argentina.

Jenny Sanford has written a book, “Staying True,” in which she talks about coping with her husband’s infidelity. The book will go on sale Friday.

In the ABC News interview, Jenny Sanford also reveals:

- Mark Sanford even refused to promise to be faithful, insisting that the clause be removed from their wedding vows.

"It bothered me to some extent, but . . . we were very young, we were in love," she said. "I questioned it, but I got past it ... along with other doubts that I had."

- Mark Sanford’s infamous frugality is part of his make-up.

"Once I came to understand that it really was deep-seeded in him ... it didn't bother me so much," Jenny Sanford said. "That's who he is. And isn't that one of the delicious challenges that you find in marriage? That you have to get to understand what makes somebody else tick in some respects?"